The Impact of Poverty on Senior Secondary School Girls’ Prospect for Tertiary Education in Nigeria

Osita C. Ikebude, Obiageli J. Modebelu, Ogochukwu S. Okafor

Abstract

Poverty has degraded lives for centuries; and human deprivation is still persistent in the developing countries of the world. It is in this regard that this study examined the impact of poverty on senior secondary school girls’ prospect for tertiary education in Nigeria. The aim was to ascertain the extent to which the prospect of senior secondary school girls for tertiary education is susceptible to poverty. The study was conducted adopting empirical design. The data used for the study were time series data. A stochastic model was specified for the study to show the impact of poverty on senior secondary school girls’ prospect for tertiary education in Nigeria during the period under study (1992 – 2011). The ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique with econometric views 3 software was used to analyze the study’s data. The estimated result showed that both poverty and unemployment are significant determinants of senior secondary school girls’ prospect for tertiary education in Nigeria. It is therefore suggested among other things that Governments should not only direct policy actions towards encouraging the education of the girls from poor homes by creating separate scholarship platforms for them that can fund their education from secondary school to university level; but also should extend the free education policy to secondary school level in order to give every child from a poor home the opportunity to have at least secondary education. This would help to reduce the girl-child trafficking for sex work, as well as all poverty stimulated juvenile delinquencies in the country.

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